Hermetz, Hanway lead Raiders at CAN-AM in Kettle Falls

Freshman Lukas Hermetz led the Raider boys at the CAN-AM Invitational Saturday at Kettle Falls, placing 48th with the time of 20 minutes, 4.13 seconds.

Hermetz will look to continue improving and holding on to the number-one spot for the boys’ squad this week. On the girls’ team, Alexia Hanway was number one again for the Raiders, taking 49th in 25:03.98.

Junior Mary Ann Matheson and sophomore Zach Erickson tied for the Most Improved Raiders for the CAN-AM Invite. Head Coach Gary Darnold pointed out that Matheson’s time of 26:31 is 90 seconds faster than last year’s at that course.

Meanwhile, Erickson trimmed off an incredible 2 minutes 22 seconds from last year’s race to finish with a career PR of 23:21.

Also improving on the course was Oscar Pakootas, who cut 30 seconds off last year’s time to finish at 22:56.

The competition at Kettle Falls was not as stiff as at the previous two weeks’ events, Darnold noted. “We did not see as many 2- ,3- and 4-A schools as we have in the last two weekends, so we did compete better and we are continuing to improve,” he said.